Midterms 2018: Early Voting Sets Record

In the last hours before Election Day, voters were already breaking records, having cast more than 35 million early ballots. (Published Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018)

With well more than 100 competitive House and Senate contests happening on Tuesday, keeping track of the big picture on Election Day could seem pretty daunting.

Polls start closing at 6 p.m., and we’ll start seeing voter data that could give us a sense of how each party is faring — and how real a potential blue wave might be. Watch results for Kentucky in the 6 p.m. hour, as well as Georgia, Indiana and Virginia in the 7 p.m. hour. Florida, Maine, New Jersey and Tennesse are ones to watch when polls close at 8 p.m. and Arizona, Minnesota, New York and Texas will close at 9 p.m. Also keep an eye on the West Coast (California and Washington) when polls close at 11 p.m.

Keep in mind: Democrats need a net gain of 23 seats to gain back control of the United States House, while they need a net gain of two to gain the majority in the Senate. Democrats are favored by most analysts, including NBC News, to reach their goal in the House; Republicans have the advantage to maintain their dominance in the Senate.